There Once Was a Dormouse Who Lived in a Bed

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DOOR MOUSE – A film by Avan Jogia – (limited spoilers)

Hayley Law - Door Mouse

Mouse

After a night of prophetic nightmares, Mouse (Hayley Law), wakes and silently narrates the start of the next issue of her monthly horror porn comic. Titled “Whoreific“, the illustrated stories are not-quite-autobiographical, and they help her work through her “existential dread”. As Mouse begins to draw, the song “Big Mouth” by Necking plays in the background. “I wake up in the afternoon,” thinks Mouse, Phillip Marlowe-style. “I have my coffee and I smoke my morning cigarette. Today the cigarette was better than the coffee.” Continue reading →

Sometimes Goodbye is a Second Chance

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LE CODE – Season One – Episodes 1 & 2 – (limited spoilers)

Daniel Njo Lobé - Le Code

Daniel Njo Lobé as Idriss Toma

In the opening scene, Corporate lawyer Idriss Toma is held at gunpoint in his Paris office by Carl Roussell (Stéphane Blancafort). Toma has just won acquittal for a (fictional) company called Delac Paint after they were accused of causing cancer in their employees with improper use of E451 (trisodium phosphate), an emulsifier found in cleaning products and food. Roussell’s wife was a victim of Delac‘s irresponsibility, and she died the day after the court handed down its ruling. After spotting his wife’s picture on a bulletin board with “gagner du temps” written below, Roussell becomes angry. “Buy time?”, he asks, seeking an explanation. “It’s not what you think” responds Toma. ” As a lawyer, I have to protect my clients’ interests,” Roussell becomes even angrier “No,” he says, “that’s not what it means to be a lawyer”. Then he fires three times, but Toma does not die. Continue reading →

Anti-Gravity, Edible Flowers, and Hybrid Orchids

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VESPER – a film by Kristina Buožytė and Bruno Samper – (limited spoilers)

We first see her searching for root vegetables in the mud, but that is not her primary occupation. A year after her mother disappeared, thirteen-year-old Vesper (Raffiella Chapman) keeps herself busy by caring for her father (Darius, played by Richard Brake), a wounded veteran on life support. In her spare time she genetically engineers new and sometimes sentient species. “This is the first one I created,” she tells Camellia (Rosy McEwen), after rescuing her from the tendrils of several rogue species whose origins Vesper had nothing to do with. “He’s sulking because I haven’t been here for a few days. He’s not the best looking, but he has character.” She introduces her new friend to more of her creations and explains: “I’m still learning. The first ones didn’t even survive, or they killed each other, but I’m getting closer to the right assembly with each generation.” Continue reading →